Process and device for identifying animals

ABSTRACT

A device has ten needle pipes ( 12 ) containing movable needles ( 13 ) and arranged in two superimposed lines on a write head ( 7 ). Each needle pipe ( 12 ) is secured to a table ( 23 ) which can be motored-driven in two horizontal directions, so that the needle pipe opening ( 9 ) can be moved over a predetermined identification field on the animal skin. Programmed-controlled means ( 47-49; 56-58 ) are provided for making the needles ( 13 ) vibrate vertically at predetermined points within identification field, depending on the characters to be tattooed. The needle points thus vibrate out of the needle pipe opening ( 9 ) and penetrate into the animal skin down to a particular depth. The device is characterised in that it has a pumping device ( 38 ) for pumping the tattooing liquid downwards through the needle pipe ( 12 ) while the needle pipe ( 12 ) is moved at least in one direction of displacement, so that the needles ( 13 ) are forcibly and permanently surrounded by tattooing liquid during said displacement of the needle pipe ( 12 ).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field of the Invention

This invention concerns both a process for marking animals, and a devicefor carrying out the process. It is becoming increasingly important tobe able to mark slaughter stock in a way that ensures an animal's lifecan be traced from birth or acquisition right through to deboning in theslaughterhouse. With the disappearance of the personal relationshipbetween meat producers and meat consumers and the impossibility, orextreme difficulty, of tracing meat on its way from the producer to theconsumer, there is a rapidly growing interest among consumer groups inbeing able to identify with precision where a particular meat comesfrom, and hence to be able to draw conclusions about feeding andgeographic origin as well. Neither would meat consumers be the only onesto benefit from such a means of marking. Producers would also like tohave a means of marking that would ensure a professional quality controlof their animals' breeding and feeding history, and generally allow themto monitor their livestock as comprehensively and individually aspossible. Hence there is great interest in being able to reliably andprecisely monitor the complete life history of each individual animal.The relevant data for each individual animal can then be processedsystematically, providing a means of furnishing proofs, and of drawingconclusions. It would allow e.g. vaccinations, feeds, weight and sizemeasurements etc., drugs administered, other treatments, pedigree andall kinds of other data to be systematically recorded and reliablyattributed to an individual animal. Just like slaughter stock producers,animal breeders also have to monitor the life histories of their animalswith care, and regularly record important data as a means of ensuringsuccessful breeding on a systematic basis. Here too, animal and meattraders' organizations at every level, processing plants and salesorganizations are all interested in being able to trace the life historyof each individual animal. In all cases, the prerequisite for reliablemonitoring and this degree of traceability is a reliable means ofmarking the animals.

2. Description of the Prior Art

There are numerous different methods of marking animals. An animal canbe given an ear tag, for example, or an ear tattoo. These tattoos areapplied with forceps, which means that the tattoo site has to beaccessible from both sides. But e.g. pigs' ears are often extremelydirty, however, or parts of the ears may even be torn away if the pig isinjured, so that tattoos are difficult or impossible to read. And at theslaughterhouse the animal heads, together with the ears, are separatedfrom the body very early on, so that the meat-bearing carcass is nolonger identifiable.

Tattoos per se are very reliable, however, because they are permanentand grow with the animal. Until now, the problem with tattooing hasalways been applying the tattoo. Various prior art tattooing instrumentsexist for applying tattoos to body sites that can only be accessed fromone side. These instruments have one or more tattooing needles whichexecute a rapid up and down movement like a sewing machine needle,thereby penetrating the animal skin to a certain depth. Before, duringor immediately after the needles are applied, the tattoo site is swabbedwith an antiseptic tattooing liquid containing a suitable dye, whichthen flows into the holes and fixes itself permanently in the skin.

European Patent Application No. 0,006,395. discloses a process and adevice for marking animals. In this process part of the device, namelythe write head of the tattooing instrument, is applied to the surface ofthe animal's skin. A vacuum is then created between the skin and thiswrite head, whereupon the skin is securely sucked against the write headof the tattooing instrument. Pre-selected marks are then punched intothe skin using tattooing needles, and tattooing liquid is forced intothe holes by the tattooing needles at the same time. On completion ofthe tattooing process, the vacuum is relieved by letting air in betweenthe skin and the instrument, and the instrument is then removed from thesurface of the skin, resp. the animal. Before this instrument can beused, however, the tattoo site has to be swabbed with tattooing liquid.Only then can the actual tattooing proceed with the instrument. There isno facility for supplying the tattooing liquid automatically, and theonly information given is that tattooing liquid can be supplied in theknown manner. Practice has shown, however, that a means of automaticallysupplying tattooing liquid as described e.g. in British patent1'444'355, will not work with an instrument of this type.

This United Kingdom Patent Application No. 1,444,355 proposes atattooing instrument like a hand-held compass saw, with the individualcharacters having actually to be written by moving the instrument on theanimal's skin. The British patent further teaches that the housingelement containing the needles can include a chamber into which pigmentscould be introduced. In practice, however, the liquid in the needlecontainer dries up quickly when the instrument is not used, with theresult that the fine needles and feeder lines unavoidably seize up.

No tattooing instrument has yet proved reliable, and none is used widelywithin the sector. They are either too time-consuming to use because toomuch preparation is required for each tattoo, or they do not functionreliably in the long-term. Furthermore, the marks that can be tattooedare often insufficiently variable, or it takes too long to apply atattoo if, despite the lack of variability, one still wants to tattoo alonger mark.

Hence it is the task of this invention to propose a process and a devicefor individually marking animals, designed to overcome the disadvantagesalready mentioned. The process must be reliable, i.e. from the moment itis applied, the mark must remain indelible and legible at all times onthe animal so that even after it is slaughtered, the mark can still bereliably read on the decapitated or scalded carcass. The marking mustalso be tamper-proof and big enough to be easily legible. The processmust also be able to be practised on the animal in such a way that theanimal suffers neither stress nor any particular pain, and is certainlynot injured. The process must also be fast and able to be used anywhere.

The device for carrying out the process must be efficient, so that asmany animals as possible can be marked per unit of time. The device mustbe handy, and therefore mobile, and reliable and easy to operate fortrouble-free use in dirty environments, and it must also functionwithout faults in the long-term. The instrument must enable sufficientlyindividualized marks and a satisfactory variety of characters and,finally, it must be inexpensive enough to purchase and operate to makeit financially viable for most large animal keepers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This task is accomplished by the apparatus and process for markinganimals, which involves using a write head having at least one needlepipe containing movable needles, with the needle pipe being able to hemoved via means of a table, which can be motor-driven in two horizontaldirections. In this manner, the needle pipe opening is moved over apredetermined markin field on the animal skin. and with the needles areprogram-controlled for vibrating vertically at predetermined pointswithin the marking field, depending on the characters to be tattooed.The needle tips vibrate out of needle pipe opening and penetrate intothe animal skin down to a particular depth, wherein tattooing liquid ispumped downwards through the needle pipe as the needle pipe is moved inat least one of its two directions of movement so that needles areforcibly and permanently surrounded by tattooing liquid.

We will first describe the device as a whole and its most importantindividual elements, with reference to an embodiment by way of example.The description of the device will then be followed with an explanationof the way it functions and of the process that is claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The figures show:

FIG. 1: An overall view of the device for marking animals;

FIG. 2: The write head seen from below in a 1:1 representation and atattoo created with it underneath;

FIG. 3: The device of FIG. 1 being used to tattoo a piglet;

FIG. 4: The inner components of the device of FIGS. 1 and 3 in adiagrammatic linear and two-dimensional exploded diagram viewed from thefront;

FIG. 5: A horizontal projection of the vibrating device for the needles;

FIG. 6: A needle pipe with feed channel for the tattooing liquid withthe associated vibrating device for the needles, viewed from the side;

FIG. 7: The table that can be motor-driven in two horizontal directions,with its drives and the pump device seen from the right-hand side inrelation to the illustration in FIG. 4;

FIG. 8: The table that can be motor-driven in two horizontal directions,with its drives and the pump device, seen from above;

FIG. 9: The route taken by the tattooing liquid and the pump deviceshown as a partial section;

FIG. 10: The tattooing display and the membrane keyboard;

FIG. 11: Four different tattoos a) to d) by way of examples.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING AND PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows an overall view of the device for marking animals. Thisdevice has a frame 1, to which the actual tattooing device with itshousing 2 is secured. Suspended from frame 1 there is a bag 3, whichcontains the tattooing liquid 4. This tattooing liquid is a veryhomogeneous, light-fast and skin-compatible dye containing pigmentswhich cannot be flushed out from the skin. On its housing 2 the systemhas a liquid crystal display as the tattoo display 5, and a membranekeyboard 6 for entering the data. It is supplied with electricity atdomestic voltages, i.e. either 220 or 110 volts, via a lead.Accommodated behind display 5 in the topmost part of housing 2 there isa transformer, which steps the voltage down to the operating voltage of24 volts. This low operating voltages ensures that both the operator andthe animal being tattooed are protected against dangerous surges ofcurrent. The actual write head 7 can be seen at the bottom of theappliance. On its underside it has two rows of five adjacent openings 8,each of which forms a marking field. Visible inside each opening 8 isthe opening 9 of a needle pipe, which can move to and from and up anddown inside each opening 8. In the situation illustrated, all the needlepipes are shown in their starting positions for tattooing, i.e. in thetop right-hand corners of openings 8 when seen from below. Two contactpins 10 can be seen to the left and right of openings 8 on the writehead 7. These contact pins 10 can be pushed inwards into write head 7against the force of a spring. When both contact pins 10 are pushedinwards into write head 7 a writing, i.e. tattooing, process istriggered. The animal to be marked is therefore pressed up with the bodysite to be tattooed against write head 7, whereupon contact pins 10 arepushed inwards into write head 7 by the animal's body. The animal isheld in this position for 3 to 4 seconds until tattooing is finished,which is signalled both visually and acoustically. The operator cantherefore only tattoo when the animal's body is held flush against writehead 7, otherwise the tattooing process cannot be triggered. Thetriggering facility is very reliable because neither hand nor foot hasto be specially reserved to trigger the tattooing process. Both handscan remain free to grip and hold the animal in a proper fashion. To marklarge animals the device can be suspended from a spring, in which caseit is gripped by handles 11 and pressed down onto the animal's body,which also triggers the tattooing process.

FIG. 2 shows the write head seen from below in a 1:1 representation.Each opening 8 defines a marking field. When openings 8 are arrangedlike this, the operator can write two superposed lines of fivecharacters each. Visible inside each opening 8 is the opening of aneedle pipe 12, and in each of these needle pipes 12 there are fourneedles 13 which are grouped together as a bunch. The first character ofthe top line is written in the field in the top right of the drawing.During the writing, i.e. tattooing, process, the needle pipes 12 insideeach opening 8 are guided simultaneously and together so that theiropenings 9 in respective openings 8 all travel along the path shown inthe top right field. The drive for moving the needles along this path isprovided by stepping motors which move a table to which needle pipes 12are ultimately secured in two horizontal directions, as will bedescribed in more detail below. Depending on which character is to bewritten in a certain marking field, needles 13 in the correspondingneedle pipe 12 are made to vibrate at the appropriate points byprogram-controlled means, so that the needle tips vibrate out of needlepipe opening 9 and penetrate into the skin held against write head 7. Atthe same time tattooing liquid, which surrounds needles 13 inside needlepipes 12, flows out under pressure from all the needle pipes 12 as theymove across the marking field. The illustration underneath write head 7shows the letter E as written by the needles 13 in the second field fromleft in the top line of the write head 7 illustrated above.

FIG. 3 shows the device in use. As can be seen, the device is attachedto a frame 1, which in turn forms an element that can be fixed onto e.g.a food wagon 14. This ensures that the tattooing device is mobile andpositioned at a comfortable height. The operator can lay the pigletacross his knee and then hold it under write head 7 for 3 to 4 seconds.The piglet does not have to be prepared in any other way. The tattoosite neither has to be shaved or swabbed with tattoo liquid in advance.The tattoo which has just been applied can be seen on the piglet. It isabout as big as the palm of a hand. Naturally, the device could also bedesigned differently. The marking fields, for example, could be arrangedor sized differently. More, or indeed fewer, needle pipes could be usedand this would not alter the principle of this invention. On completionof tattooing it is important to close off the openings of the needlepipes with a protective cap, for which purpose an airtight cushion ispressed onto the openings to prevent the tattooing liquid from dryingout inside the needle pipes.

FIG. 4 shows the key internal components of the device in a diagrammaticlinear and two-dimensional exploded drawing. This will make it easier tounderstand the construction of the overall device. The device is made upof three main modules 15, 16, 17 arranged one on top of the other andconnected with each other by means of assembly rods 19, 20. The electricand electronic module 15 is shown at the top. The centre module 16houses the drive means for moving needle pipes 12 horizontally, as wellas the pump device for the tattooing liquid, whilst the bottom module 17contains needle pipes 12 with the needles and their vibrating systems.The membrane keyboard 6 with the liquid crystal display 5 is drawn in onthe electric and electronic module 15. Behind it, on assembly plate 18,is the transformer for stepping down the incoming voltage to the 24volts operating voltage. The main board with the integrated circuits forthe whole electronic system is also mounted on assembly plate 18. Thisentire electric and electronic module 15 is screwed with assembly plate18 onto the top ends of assembly rods 20. The module 16 underneath hasthree plates 21,22,23 arranged parallel to each other, of which the twobottom plates 22,23 can each be moved horizontally in one direction inrelation to the plates above 21,22. The top plate 21 is disposed rigidlyinside housing 2 of the device. This plate 21 supports the drive meansfor moving the two plates underneath 22,23, and the pump device for thetattooing liquid. We will start by describing the drive means. Thesecomprise a stepping motor for each one of the two directions of movementof plates 22,23 underneath, these movements being at right angles toeach other. Inside component 24, which is rigidly mounted on stationaryplate 21, there is a first stepping motor whose driven axle 25 drives aball screw 27 via a toothed belt 26, said ball screw beingthread-mounted in component 28. A ball screw guarantees that the driveis free from play, even when the drive direction is reversed. The bottomof component 28 passes through a recess in plate 21 and is mounted onplate 22. On the top side of plate 22, four square radially runningdistancing elements 34 are disposed along its periphery and over itscircumference. The two distancing elements 34 shown to the left andright of the drawing are mounted in a guide groove formed by plasticelements 50 screwed to the underneath of stationary plate 21. Theseensure that plate 22 can only be moved to the left or the right inrelation to stationary plate 21. If the stepping motor in component 24is switched on, component 28 will move to the left or the right in thediagram. This movement is stopped by two limit switches. Insidecomponent 28 there is a second stepping motor whose driven axle 29drives another ball screw 31 via toothed belt 30. This ball screw 31 isthread-mounted in a component disposed behind component 28, and cannotbe seen here. This component passes through the aligned recesses in bothstationary plate 21 and plate 22 underneath onto plate 23, to which itis secured. A further four square distancing elements 36 orientedradially to the centre are attached to the underside of plate 22. On thetop side of plate 23, the guide grooves running perpendicular to theplane of the sheet of drawings are formed by plastic elements 37. If thestepping motor in component 28 is switched on, plate 23 therefore movesperpendicular to the plane of the sheet of drawings. The to and frommovements of bottom plate 23 are also stopped by two limit switches. Theintersecting freedom of movement of the two plates 22 and 23 means thatevery point within a certain field can be reached by plate 23 as aresult of the overlapping of the two movements. Hence plate 23 forms atable that can be moved in any direction along the plane and issupported by a ring 32 disposed underneath, on which it is slidinglymounted, and which is connected with stationary plate 21 via anencircling ring 33. The movement of component 24 relative to component28 on stationary plate 21 causes the needle pipes to move in the generalwriting direction, and is also directly exploited to drive a pump devicefor the tattooing liquid. This pump device consists of the two elements38 and 39 that can be seen here. Two identical elements are secured tothe back of components 24 and 28. At the top of element 39 there is aninlet connection 40. This is where a hose is connected, which brings thetattooing liquid from a bag to the pump device. Element 39, which hasfive identical outgoing tubes 41, acts as a distributor. These tubes 41project into holes in element 38, inside which they are sealed by meansof O-rings. They act as pistons inside element 38. Inside element 38there are two one-way valves arranged in series, as will be described inmore detail below. These one-way valves ensure that during pumping, i.e.when tubes 41 penetrate into element 38 as pistons, no liquid can flowbackwards through tubes 41, but is instead pressed out through openingnipple 42. Conversely, when components 24 and 28 move apart, with theresult that tubes 41, i.e. the pistons, move back out of element 38, thesecond one-way valve shuts immediately while the first one opens so thattattooing liquid can flow out of distributor 39 into the space betweenthe two one-way valves. From opening nipples 42, hoses 43 lead to theassembly elements 44 for needle pipes 12 and from there into feedchannels 54, through which the tattooing liquid is pumped inside needlepipes 12.

The bottom module 17 contains the vibrating system for the tattooingneedles, plus needle pipes 12 and write head 7. These elements are fixedto two parallel assembly plates 45,46 disposed one above the other andheld together by four connecting rods 51 distributed around thecircumference. The assembly elements 44 for needle pipes 12 are screwedonto the lower assembly plate 46; on the inside, they also form a flowchannel for supplying the tattooing liquid. Electromagnets 47 sit onthese assembly elements 44, which are pierced from below by screws whichpass through the inside of the flow channel. To prevent these screwsfrom blocking up the flow channel they are tapered midway along theirlength so that liquid can flow around them inside the flow channel. Thisconstruction allows space to be saved. Above electromagnets 47, i.e.above the cores of the electromagnets, the magnet armatures 48 are eachsecured to a vibrating arm 49. Vibrating arms 49 are hinged to the topassembly plate 45 and their ends rest in an element that which impactson the plunger that holds the needles at its bottom end. A compressionspring 58 is disposed between the plunger and the needle pipe so thatwhen at rest, the plunger with the needles lies in its upper position,and hence the needles are retracted behind the bottom opening of needlepipe 12.

FIG. 5 shows a horizontal projection of the vibrating device for theneedles. The bottom assembly plate 46 is indicated by a dashed line andis connected via connecting rods 51 to the top assembly plate 45, whichis contrived here with a rectangular recess 52, allowing one to lookdown on the plunger heads 56 of the individual needle pipes. Theelements between the two assembly plates 45,46 are indicated by a dashedline. A vibrating device with its own needle pipe and needle bunch isprovided for each of the ten marking fields. The individual vibratingdevices are slightly wider than the gaps between adjacent markingfields. To save space, therefore, the vibrating devices for the threecentral marking fields of each line are arranged at an angle to eachother. The two outer pairs of marking fields are also served byvibrating devices disposed at an angle to each other. All ten vibratingdevices are arranged space-savingly around the overall periphery of themarking field of the write head, as can readily be seen. Each vibratingdevice comprises two electromagnets 47. Above these electromagnets 47runs the magnet armature, which is secured to a vibrating arm 49. Oneend of vibrating arm 49 is secured to an articulated element which isscrewed to the top assembly plate 45 by means of a screw 53. The otherend of vibrating arm 49 is mobile and impacts on a plunger, as will bedescribed in relation to FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 shows a side view of an individual needle pipe 12 with feedchannel 54 for the tattooing liquid, with the associated vibratingdevice for needles 13. The vibrating device is mounted on assemblyelement 44, which forms a steel structure with a bore 54 for supplyingthe tattooing liquid. Assembly element 44 is screwed onto assembly plate46, which is not shown here, by means of screws 60. The outer end ofbore 54 is sealed by a plug which is not illustrated here. On top ofassembly element 44 there is a nipple 62 to which feed hose 43 for thetattooing liquid is connected and secured with a clip 64. Electromagnets47 are mounted on assembly element 44 and held in place with screws 59.These screws 59 are slightly tapered midway along their length so thatthey can pass through bore 54 and still allow the tattooing liquid toflow around them. Above electromagnets 47 one can see the magnetarmature 48, which is secured to a vibrating arm 49. This vibrating arm49 is attached via an articulated element 55 by means of screw 53 to topassembly plate 45, which is not shown here. Its end projects into thehead 56 of plunger 57. The plunger 57 itself is mounted and moved insidea guiding tube 66 which is inserted in assembly element 44 perpendicularthereto. The bottom opening of this guiding tube 66 has an internalthread 63, into which needle pipe 12 is screwed. Inside needle pipe 12,four needles 13 are gathered into a bunch and moved by needle pipe 12.Towards the bottom end of plunger 57 there is an upwardly directedshoulder on which lies an O-ring 61 which in turn abuts against ashoulder in guiding tube 66. Above O-ring 61, bore 54 opens out intoguiding tube 66. Screwed into the top end of guiding tube 66 there is asealing element 67 which presses down on an O-ring 68 and seals offplunger 57 at the top. Between the sealing element 67 and the plungerhead 56 there is a compression spring 58 which keeps plunger 57 pressedupwards, with the bottom O-ring 61 sealing off guide tube 66 at thebottom. If voltage is applied to electromagnet 47, however, magnetarmature 48 is drawn downwards, whereupon plunger 57 is also presseddownwards by vibrating arm 49 against the force of compression spring58. When this happens, the bottom of plunger 57 opens the passage forthe tattooing liquid so that it can flow around the bottom end ofplunger 57 and be pumped inside needle pipe 12, where it fills out thespace between the needles 13 mounted inside and the inside of the needlepipe, flowing round needles 13 as it does so. When alternating voltageat 50Hz is applied to electromagnets 47, plunger 57 also vibrates at50Hz and the tattooing liquid flows accordingly, with an intermittent,almost fast movement, along needles 13 to the tattooing site.

FIG. 7 shows the module 16 that is shown from the front in FIG. 4 withthe table that can be moved horizontally in two directions, togetherwith its drive means and the pump device, but now viewed from theright-hand side in relation to the illustration in FIG. 4. As alreadydescribed, this module 16 has three parallel plates 21,22,23, of whichthe two bottom ones 22,23, can each be moved in one direction horizontalto the plate above. The top plate 21 is stationary. This plate 21supports the drive means for each one of the two directions of movementof plates 22,23 underneath, these movements being at right angle to eachother. Inside component 24, which is rigidly mounted on stationary plate21, there is a first stepping motor which is connected to component 28via a ball screw. The bottom of component 28 passes through a recess inplate 21 and is mounted on plate 22. On the top side of plate 22, fourradially running distancing elements 34 are disposed along its peripheryand over its circumference. The front guide element 34 and the rearguide element 34, which is not visible in the drawing, are mounted in aguide groove formed by plastic elements 35 screwed into the underside ofstationary plate 21. These ensure that plate 22 can only be movedforwards or backwards in relation to stationary plate 21. If thestepping motor in component 24 is switched on, component 28 will moveforwards or backwards in this diagram. This movement is stopped by twolimit switches, of which the front limit switch 69 is shown here,mounted on stationary plate 21. A screw 70 on component 28 activates it.Inside component 28 there is a second stepping motor, whose driven axle29 drives another ball screw 31 via toothed belt 30. This ball screw isthread-mounted in component 32. Component 32 passes through the alignedrecesses in both stationary plate 21 and plate 22 underneath onto plate23, to which it is secured. Attached to the underside of plate 22 thereare four square distancing elements 36 oriented radially towards thecentre. Mounted opposite each other on top of plate 23 there are twoplastic elements 37, which act as guide grooves for the distancingelements 36 mounted inside them. If the stepping motor in component 28is switched on, plate 23 therefore moves to and from along the plane ofthe sheet of the drawing. These movements of bottom plate 23 are alsostopped by two limit switches. One of these limit switches 72, which isattached to component 32, is illustrated. It is activated by the screw71 on component 28. The intersecting freedom of movement of the twoplates 22 and 23 means that every point within a certain field can bereached as a result of the overlapping of the two movements. Plate 23 issupported by a ring 32 disposed underneath, on which it is slidinglymounted by means of sliding bearings 50, the outside of which isconnected outside with stationary plate 21 via an encircling ring 33.The movement of component 24 relative to component 28 on stationaryplate 21 is also directly exploited to operate a pump device for thetattooing liquid. This view only shows elements 39 of the pump device,which have an inlet connection 40 at the top. This is where hoses thatbring the tattooing liquid from a bag to the pump device are connected.Element 39 acts as a distributor, in that it has five identical tubes 41which project out of the back and cannot therefore be seen here. Thesetubes 41 enter into holes in element 38 behind, and are leak-tightlymounted in it by means of O-rings. They act as pistons in element 38.

Finally, FIG. 8 shows the centre module 16 of FIG. 4 seen from above.Fixed rigidly in housing 2, one can see the top plate 21, on whichcomponent 24 is mounted. Inside component 24 there is the first steppingmotor, whose driven axle 25 drives ball screw 27 via toothed belt 26,said ball screw being thread-mounted in component 28. The bottom ofcomponent 28 passes through a recess in plate 21 and is mounted on plate22. If the stepping motor in component 24 is operated, component 28moves up and down along the plane of the diagram, until the drive isstopped by a limit switch 69. Component 28 accommodates the secondstepping motor, whose driven axle 29 drives another ball screw 31 viatoothed belt 30. This ball screw 31 is thread-mounted in a component 32that is arranged on the right of component 28. This component 32 passesthrough the aligned recesses in both stationary plate 21 and plate 22underneath onto plate 23, to which it is secured. If the stepping motorin component 28 is switched on, plate 23 therefore moves to the left orright along the plane of the diagram. The to and from movements ofbottom plate 23 are also stopped by two limit switches 72. Theintersecting freedom of movement of the two plates 22 and 23 means thatplate 23 can be moved in any direction with respect to stationary plate21. The movement of component 24 relative to component 28 on stationaryplate 21 is also directly exploited to drive a pump device for thetattooing liquid.

FIG. 9 shows the route taken by the tattooing liquid, and the pumpdevice in a partial section. The tattooing liquid is contained in a bag3, which is suspended from the frame of the appliance. Bag 3 itselfreveals the level of the liquid inside, either because bag 3 istransparent, or because of the way it bulges. A further advantage of bag3 is that air does not have to be introduced into bag 3 before tattooingliquid will flow out at the bottom, the volume of the bag simplydiminishes instead. This provides a clever means of ensuring that aircannot get into the flow system for the tattooing liquid. The bag isconnected to the flow system by pushing a hollow needle 65 through thesealing cap 73 at the bottom of the bag. For this purpose sealing cap 73has a rubber plug which is pierced by hollow needle 65 to tap theliquid. When the bag is empty, it can be replaced by a new, full bag bysimply removing hollow needle 65 and inserting it into the sealing plugof the new bag without any air getting into the flow system. Thetattooing liquid flows through a tube 74 into distributor 39 and fromthere through the five tubes 41 into pump housing 38, of which the toppart is shown here in a section. Proceeding from the two distributors39, which are disposed on each side of component 28, there is a separateline for each needle tube, in which liquid is also pumped separately.The pump device for each line is contrived as follows: an O-ring 75seals off tube 41 inside cylinder 76, which runs through pump housing38. The inside of the cylinder is chemically nickel-plated and thermallypost-treated to ensure that the O-ring does not seize up. The front endof tube 41, which acts as a piston, is tapered and sealed at the end.Radial bores 78 are contrived in the taper 77, and a hose section 79 isfitted over taper 77, so that the end of the piston functions as aone-way valve in the same way as a bicycle hose valve. Further forwardsinside cylinder 76 there is another identically structured, identicallyoriented one-way valve 80. The advantage of one-way valves of thisconstruction is that they react immediately in both directions. If thepiston travels into cylinder 76, the one-way valve at its end isleakproof, i.e. hose section 79 lies snugly on taper 77 and closes theradial bores 78 inside. The identical one-way valve located furtherforwards in the cylinder opens when the piston pumps, because the hosesection expands slightly under the pressure of the liquid pumped outthrough the radial bores, so that the liquid can flow underneath it longthe taper and towards the front. If the piston reverses after a fullstroke, an underpressure is created between the two one-way valves,causing hose section 79 to stretch slightly on taper 77 of the piston,so that liquid can flow through bores 78 underneath hose section 79 ontaper 77 into the space between the one-way valves, whilst the frontone-way valve remains closed because the underpressure there draws thehose section through the bores onto the taper, so that the hose sectionseals off the taper. The pump strokes coincide with the paths which theneedle tubes in the openings in the write head travel along in thedirection transverse to the height of the letter. In the exampledescribed this value is 6.5 mm. Cylinder 76 has a diameter of 7 mm, sothat each of the 10 pistons pumps 250 mm³ at every stroke, whichcorresponds to a total of 2500 mm³ or 2.5 ml. This is the volume that ispumped during each tattooing process. The system pumps whenever theneedle tubes move transversely in the writing direction in the openingsof the write head. For a total of five vertical movements of the needletubes during writing there are four intervening transverse movementsduring which the system pumps. At the front end, cylinder 76 ends in anipple 42, over which is fitted a hose 43, which leads to an assemblyelement 44 for a needle tube 12. From this assembly element 44 thetattooing liquid passes through a feed channel 54 into needle pipe 12,inside which it flows around the needles and finally onto and into theanimal's skin.

FIG. 10 shows the membrane keyboard and the membrane display. The greatadvantage of a membrane keyboard is that the appliance will workreliably even in a dirty and dusty environment, because all the electricand electronic components remain virtually hermetically sealed off fromthe surrounding air. The display, the input functions and the associatedelectronics give the user a wide variety of options. These will bedescribed below for the sake of clarity. The display features two lineswith 12 positions in each line. Five positions in each line indicate thecharacters that the write head will tattoo into the animal during thenext tattooing manoeuvre. For each of the ten positions of the tattooingdisplay, the operator can choose between 46 characters, e.g. the numbers0 to 9, the letters A to Z, plus ä, ö and ü. The characters *, +,−, &, ♂and ♀ can also be represented as well. Each tattoo is counted by theappliance and indicated at display 83 by a three-figure number at topleft in the first line, next to the tattoo display. This number willstart to flash after one hundred tattoos. Key 91 is held down to re-setthe counter to zero, and the operator can then carry on working with theappliance. If display position 84 shows a 1, the tattoo shown on thedisplay can only be applied once. Display position 84 will flash afterthe tattoo has been applied. The operator then has to enter a new tattoobefore a new tattooing manoeuvre can be triggered. Key 88 allows theoperator to switch over to the multiple tattoo function, in which caseposition 84 will indicate the letter X on a permanent basis. By pressingkey 91 briefly, the operator can activate the top or bottom line of thedisplay to enter characters. Key 91 also triggers the drive for the pumpdevice for the tattooing liquid, so that the pump is operated five timesconsecutively. This serves to evacuate air from the lines in case air issucked in for any reason. By repeatedly pressing key 89, the operatorcan choose between three operating modes, which are indicated atposition 85 by the numbers 1, 2 or 3. This means the operator can, forexample, continuously tattoo a special character for three differentstalls, or differentiate between animals for fattening, breeding orother purposes. Each position in the activated line in the tattoodisplay can be set using the individual keys of the keyboard 87, eitherby pressing the + key to move upwards through the series of characters,or by pressing the − key to move downwards through the series ofcharacters. As soon as the desired character is set, the animal can begrasped and held under the write head. Tattooing is complete after threeto four seconds, and the display flashes at position 84 if the applianceis set to once-only tattooing mode. The tattoo can be altered byentering or altering one or more positions, whereupon the appliance isthen ready again for the next tattoo. The electronic display istherefore programmed in a very simple, user-friendly way to allowstandardized or individual markings based on number codes and symbols.

FIG. 11 shows four different marking options by way of examples:illustration a) shows a sub-division in which the two letters SH to theleft of the top line are used for the male pig and the three-figurenumber 534 on the right for the mother animal. In the bottom line, P17on the left indicates the piglet number, and next to it on the right theweek of birth, 26. Illustration b) shows an alternative in which the Xon the left at the top identifies the farm, with the litter number tothe right. The date of birth, Jun. 30 1996, is indicated underneath bythe number 30696. In illustration c), the first line shows a trademarkor a quality logo, whilst the AM995 in the bottom line is a consecutivepiglet number. Finally, illustration d) shows a co-operative marking attop left, namely FCL, with the family number, 28, next to it on theright. The 79 on the left in the second line indicates the birth weight,7.9 kg, with the number of the day on the right, in this case 365, i.e.the last calendar day of the year. Many other combinations can also beused, of course, depending on the needs and preferences of the user. Itis also possible to transfer the tattooed data direct from the applianceto a computer, where they can be entered in a database for furtherprocessing.

This device and method for marking animals allows the operator to tattooan individual and absolutely tamper-proof identification directly andvirtually painlessly onto an animal's body in only three to fourseconds. The high-performance write head and the electronicallyregulated supply of dye ensure a tattoo that is neat and always legible.The appliance described here tattoos characters of 8×12 mm and anoverall tattoo size of 32×70 mm. The tattoo grows with the animal, sothat after 26 weeks, a tattoo on a piglet will be about 80×170 mm andtherefore easy to read, even from a distance of several meters.

The precise needle penetration depth of maximum 2 mm and the specialskin-compatible dye prevent any injury and eliminate any risk ofinfection. The appliance's high tattooing capacity allows between 50 and100 animals to be marked per hour.

What is claimed is:
 1. A process for marking animals, comprising thesteps of: writing with a write head having at least one needle pipecontaining movable needles with the needle pipe capable of being movedvia a table motor driven in two horizontal directions, so that anopening of the needle pipe is moved over a predetermined marking fieldon the animal's skin for writing thereon; program-controlling themovable needles for vibrating vertically at predetermined points withinthe predetermined marking field, depending on the characters to betattooed, so that needle tips vibrate out of the opening of the needlepipe and penetrate into the animal's skin down to a particular depth;and, pumping tattooing liquid downwardly through the needle pipe as theneedle pipe is moved in at least one of its two directions of movement,so that needles are forcibly and permanently surrounded by the tattooingliquid.
 2. The process for marking animals of claim 1, wherein saidpumping step is carried out by using a mechanical drive for at least oneof the directions of movement of the needle pipes.
 3. The process formarking animals of claim 1, wherein said pumping step is carried out bypumping the tattooing liquid from a bag within an air-free system to theopening of the needle pipe.
 4. The process for marking animals of claim1, further comprising the steps of: a) for each tattooing manoeuvre thetattoo to be applied by program-controlled means is entered via amembrane keyboard; b) the animal is held under the write head to triggerthe tattooing process; c) the animal is held under the write head duringthe tattooing process; and, d) the animal is released and this is thenfollowed by step a).
 5. An apparatus for marking animals, comprising atleast one needle pipe containing movable needles, with the needle pipebeing secured to a table which is capable of being motor-driven in twohorizontal directions, so that an opening for the needle pipe is movableover a predetermined marking field on an animal's skin, and withprogram-controlled means for making the needles vibrate vertically atpredetermined points within the predetermined marking field, dependingon the characters to be tattooed, so that needle tips vibrate out of theopening of the needle pipe and penetrate into the animal's skin downwardto a particular depth, and a pumping device for pumping the tattooingliquid downwards through the needle pipe so that needles are forciblyand permanently surrounded by tattooing liquid during pumping.
 6. Theapparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a group of ten needlepipes containing movable needles, which are disposed in two superimposedlines with five needle pipes each in corresponding openings in astationary write head, said needle pipes being secured together withvibrating devices to a first plate via motor-driven means in twohorizontal directions, and in that two stepping motors, with each saidstepping motor having a ball screw, being provided for moving said firstplate, a first said stepping motor being secured to a stationary platearranged parallel to said first plate, and a second said stepping motorbeing secured to a second plate arranged parallel underneath and mountedso that said second plate is displaceable one-dimensionally with respectto said stationary plate, with said ball screw of the second saidstepping motor interacting with a component secured to said first platethat is movable in two dimensions.
 7. The apparatus of claim 5, whereinthe pumping device includes at least one pipe sealed at its end by aone-way valve, which is pushable as a piston into a piston cylinder inwhich there is a second, identically oriented one-way valve, and in thatsaid piston cylinder is connected with a first component which executesa movement relative to a second component on which said piston cylinderis mounted.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the one-way valves insaid piston cylinder and an additional cylinder are formed by pipetapers which are sealed off at one end and have at least one radialbore, and in that a hose section is fitted over their tapered surfaces,which seals off the radial bores under pressure from outside and opensthem under pressure from inside via a resultant expansion in hosesection.
 9. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising a bag for thetattooing liquid, said bag being tapped from underneath by a hollowneedle, so that the tattooing liquid can be drawn free of air into aflow system without air having to flow back into the bag, and in thatthe tattooing liquid for each said needle pipe can be pumped by separatesaid pumping devices comprising a piston and a cylinder.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 5, further comprising a liquid crystal display as thetattoo display, and a membrane keyboard for entering data so that insideof the entire apparatus is hermetically sealed off from the surroundingair.